1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-vehicle navigation apparatus that provides guidance to a lane on which a user's vehicle should travel on a guidance route which the vehicle should follow.
2. Description of the Related Art
A navigation apparatus in related art is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-340826. The navigation apparatus displays, on a display unit, information about lanes at each of multiple intersections within a certain distance (for example, within 500 m) from the current position of the vehicle, regardless of guided intersections where route guidance, such as right turn or left turn, is performed or unguided intersections where no route guidance is performed. Since a guided lane is displayed, for example, in a color different from the colors of the other lanes regardless of the guided intersections or the unguided intersection in the display of the information about the lanes at each intersection, a user who watches the display in the display unit is capable of knowing the status of the lanes not only at guided intersections but also at unguided intersections. In addition, the user is capable of appropriately understanding which lane the vehicle should travel on toward a guided intersection.
Since the lane on which the vehicle should travel is displayed in a color different than other lanes in the navigation apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-340826, the user is capable of appropriately understanding the lane on which the vehicle should travel. However, for example, when the route guidance is to turn left at a guided intersection in a case in which a left-turn lane and a through lane are provided at an unguided intersection closest to the current position of the user's vehicle, and a left-turn lane, a through-lane, and a right-turn lane are provided at the guided intersection following the unguided intersection, the vehicle that travels in the left-turn lane too early may be forced to turn left at the unguided intersection, which is before the guided intersection existing on the route that is set. In other words, even if the lane on which the vehicle should travel is displayed in a color different than other lanes, it may be difficult for the user to determine a time when the vehicle should change to the lane on which the vehicle should run before passing through various intersections.